Research Engineer, Robot Intelligence

Samsung Research America (SRA); Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 163,600 - 324,500; Full time

Job summary

Samsung Research America in Mountain View, CA, invites Researcher Engineers for senior to staff roles in robotics and embodied intelligence. You will explore novel technologies to generalize robots for real-world tasks and contribute to perception, control, learning, and navigation across multiple groups.

The position emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams, rigorous experimentation, and publishing results.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s degree in EECS/Robotics or equivalent.
• 2–14+ years’ robotics R&D experience with relevant models and control.

Responsibilities

• Design and evaluate robotic hardware, sensors, and software for varied environments.
• Integrate components into prototypes and optimize system performance.
• Develop and test algorithms for perception, control, navigation, and manipulation.
• Document results and benchmark against state-of-the-art methods.

Skills

Robotics R&D

Sensing and control

Computer vision

Problem solving

Team collaboration

Verbal/written communication

Education

PhD or MS in EECS/Robotics

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

C++

ROS

CUDA

Job description

Lab Summary

The Robot Intelligence Lab at Samsung Research America is a new facility dedicated to advancing the field of robotics through cutting-edge research and development. The lab’s mission is to develop advanced technologies to power intelligent robotic systems capable of manipulation, navigation, and complex reasoning for a variety of high-impact application areas. To achieve this mission, the lab collaborates closely with external entities such as universities, startups, and government labs, as well as with several Samsung Product and Advanced Research labs.

Position Summary

As the Robot Intelligence Lab grows, we will be hiring across multiple career levels including Senior, Staff and Senior Staff. The level at which a candidate is hired will reflect their experience, technical expertise and demonstrated impact. Regardless of level we are looking to grow the team with Researcher Engineers who have solid technical skills and rich academic and/or industry experience in areas of robotics and embodied intelligence. Our ideal candidate explores novel technologies aimed towards generalizing robots to perform tasks in the real world. Samsung’s unique advantage in the consumer electronics market and growing focus on AI and robotics will provide you with exciting technical challenges and a rewarding career experience. By leveraging Samsung’s vast product ecosystem to deliver novel user experiences, your work will define Samsung’s future in robotics and significantly impact real-world users.

Hiring Groups

We are hiring candidates for multiple groups within the lab (Reasoning, Dexterity, Data Efficiency, and Robot Systems), and hence the responsibilities and required skills for each position will be group dependent.

Position Responsibilities

• Design and evaluate the suitability of robotic hardware, sensors, and software for applications in semi-structured and unstructured environments targeting high impact business areas
• Integrate sensors, actuators and other components into proof-of-concept/prototype robotic systems and analyze and optimize robotic system performance and accuracy
• Design, develop, integrate and test algorithms for robot perception, control, learning, navigation, and manipulation
• Synthesize virtual models (simulations) of appearance, kinematics, and physics of real robots and environments using system identification, real-to-sim, scene generation, and sim-to-real techniques
• Develop and deploy data collection, data processing, and model management mechanisms for in-the-wild data aggregation
• Work within cross-functional, cross-divisional teams and assist in the design, analysis and performance evaluation from concept to completion
• Document and present results evaluating algorithms and models on targeted compute platforms
• Conduct pilot studies and formal experiments to benchmark performance against state-of-the-art approaches using clear and well-reasoned metrics
• Maintain fleets of robots and associated infrastructure for logging, monitoring, and evaluating performance across the fleet

Required Skills

• PhD or Master’s degree in EECS/Robotics or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
• 2-14+ years’ experience in state-of-the-art robotics R&D, such as task-and-motion planning (TAMP), vision-language-action (VLA) models, open-world 3D perception, trajectory prediction, model predictive control, large-scale reinforcement learning, multimodal (visual, tactile, audio, semantic) information fusion, and whole-body control
• Demonstrated experience in sensing, kinematics, dynamics, and control systems integrated on real robotic systems
• Solid understanding of computer vision techniques (e.g., object detection, segmentation, tracking) and multi-view image processing
• Knowledgeable of tools and processes to monitor ML model performance and data quality, including model tuning experience
• Familiarity with PyTorch, TensorFlow, C++, ROS, and CUDA
• Demonstrated experience in software engineering best practices to track, communicate, and document project progress
• Strong understanding of robotics fundamentals, including locomotion, manipulation, sensor inputs, pose tracking, 3D mapping, SLAM, ROS, and policy architectures particularly for semi-structured and unstructured environments
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Excellent verbal communication and writing skills to effectively represent the derived results and technical concepts developed in the course of the work

Base Pay Range

$163,600 - $324,500 USD

Additional Information

Disclosure of Trade Secrets. Samsung has a strict policy on trade secrets. In applying to Samsung and progressing through the recruitment process, you must not disclose any trade secrets of a current or previous employer.

Essential Job Functions

This position will be performed in an office setting. The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, and frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Samsung Research America is committed to complying with all Federal, State and local laws related to the employment of qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation as part of the employment selection process, please contact the recruiter or email [e-mail]. At Samsung, we believe that innovation and growth are driven by an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce. We aim to create a global team where everyone belongs and has equal opportunities, inspiring our talent to be their true selves. Together, we are building a better tomorrow for our customers, partners, and communities. Samsung Research America is committed to employing a diverse workforce, and provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, status as a qualified individual with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. For more information regarding protection from discrimination under Federal law for applicants and employees, please refer to this link: Pay Transparency